50mm Prime Lens : The Best Lens Ever!

A DSLR camera’s most important feature is its ability to put on a variety of lens ranging from extreme wideangle to extreme telephoto. The lens requirement depends on what the photographer wishes to shoot but there is one lens which I would say is a MUST for every photographer. The lens I’m talking about is none other than the 50mm prime a.k.a nifty fifty. The reasons I love the 50mm prime lens are as follows,

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

1) Economical – The 50mm f/1.8 can be bought for around Rs.5000 which makes it the most cheapest lens. This means any photographer can afford it & its not merely a toy of the riches.

2) Extremely Fast – The 50mm prime lens can be got in either f/1.8, f/1.4 or f/1.2. Depending on your budget you can get get any of the trio. Personally, I would recommend the 50mm f/1.8 as it does a fantastic job for its price. If you can afford then go ahead get the 50mm f/1.2 or the more down to earth the 50mm f/1.4. The fast aperture of these lens would mean you can shoot in low light conditions easily without issues of noise or blurs.

3) Excellent Image Quality – Most important, the 50mm prime lens offer superb image quality whether you use it on a crop sensor body or a full frame sensor body. It is free from most of the optical defects like fringing, abberrations, distortion etc. You can achieve high quality shots even with the 50mm f/1.8(not necessary you need the costlier f/1.4 or f/1.2) & that too at such a low cost.

4) Flexible Use – The 50mm prime lens is flexible & can be used for almost any type of normal photography. It can be great tool for street shooters and also for potrait photographers. The lens can be even used for landscape photography or when the light conditions are really low. Even DSLR videographers will love this lens as they can get shallow depth of field very easily in their videos using the 50mm prime lens. The 50mm is thus a versatile lens.

5) Light Weight – The 50mm prime lenses are so light in weight that carrying them mounted on a camera for a whole day won’t tire you out. This would benefit further as you’ll be able to concentrate fully on your shoot. Its so small that you can shoot casually making your subject feel relaxed than they would if you point out your huge 70-200mm f/2.8 bazooka lens at their face.

All the above points clearly states the 50mm f/1.8 to be the most value for money lens. As such, it wins my vote for the best DSLR lens ever. If anybody gives me a choice to have only one lens, then I would without any second though choose the 50mm prime lens. I say, every photographer worth his salt should must own this lens. If you don’t have one, get one today!